Photo Portfolio Critique 64: lens sharpness?

[lolcat23]

holy shit, whats up with that crazy hairdo?

[CitiesAndColours]

His sister is FIT!

[martinaee]

Image Sharpness ---- It's overrated.

I COMPLETELY think people need to fully understand that different lenses at different apertures can achieve different sharpness (all the way to super sharp), but when people critique people's images from photographers who know what they are doing that are soft as though having soft images is bad I get irked. I see that all the time on some forums/flickr.

[leftistelf]

Dom, once again, your brevity, helpfulness, and analysis was awesome. Others (such as one particularly huge haired guy) can't seem to edit down to the salient points like you do - which makes your content to the point and crisp. Nicely done.

[efox29]

@Dombowerphoto for what it worths...lighting can strike from cloud to ground (natural)....ground to cloud (its natural in a sense. If humans didnt exist, they wouldnt either)...and cloud to cloud (natural).

Apparently the cloud to cloud is the most devastating.

[RaltsWooper]

great critique

[getlow1985]

On #2 I'm almost sure it's the lens that isn't sharp. I have the same lens (I think) and I must say it's not very sharp at all. Great critique and photos!

[nerwin]

50 1.8g or 85 1.8D for portraits?

[eirjep]

@nerwin If STRICTLY for portraits, I'd say 85. If for mostly portraits and to have a killer walk-around lens, go 50.

[un1qu3ger]

@nerwin: 85mm 1.8D for headshots and if you have enough room (plus make sure your camera has a built-in focus-motor), 50mm 1.8 is more versatile and still makes good portraits. I`d go for the 50 on DX..

[nerwin]

@un1qu3ger Thanks, The thing is that I don't like being really close to my subjects (portraits) because I think it makes them uncomfortable with a camera right in their face. So I thought maybe the 85 1.8 would allow me to have distance and have that nice bokeh, but the 50 1.8 probably would work fine I'm sure. I have a D7000 so no problems there.

[un1qu3ger]

@nerwin I know what you mean... and it's certainly true for outside when it's not too crowded. The 85mm is just a bit too special for my taste and I think it's the next lens that's going to be replaced by an AF-S model (which typically doesn't only mean an ultrasonic motor but optical improvements), so perhaps wait a month or two? Neverthelss, it's a question of taste and style of shooting. So, the 85 could be your no1 choice. It's a great lens after all.

[ROMCIA26]

great interpretation Dom :)

[alexgittia]

thanks for that will take all advice on-board

[KingTrigger999]

yay....  a critique. cheers Dom